Play Fair Or Do Not Play

This would be the biggest football tournament of all that they had ever played in and Billy was really very excited about it. But his excitement was getting drained by the torturous practice. Coach Robert was making them do 10 laps around the whole field. Billy Williams was the best player of St. Francis School’s football team. He was also the coach’s favorite player.“It was really a terrible and tiring practice. I know that. But this was needed preparation for the game,” said coach to Billy. “Yeah, sure that was necessary,” replied Billy with a smile. Billy always liked coach for his “tough love”.

“Billy end it for today,” demanded coach. “Practice is over,” yelled Billy. That was the last practice before they would go to Forks for the tournament.

Billy collected his things from his locker and went over to his best friend Mac, who also happened to be one of the best players on the team.

“I wonder what Coach has brought for us. I saw him taking something from his locker after practice,” said Mac. Just then coach entered their locker room and said “Hey guys I brought something for you”. He brought out some patches from his bag. He was a doctor before he started coaching, but due to some unknown reason he left that profession.

“You will have to wear these patches 12 hours a day till your tournament. This will make you ready for the tournament,” said coach with a smile. Billy took one patch and went home. He showed his father the patch. “Seems like your coach wants you to succeed. Well I want that too. All the best, my son,” said Frank, Billy’s father. “Thanks dad,” said Billy and he went to his room with the patch.

As soon as he put the patch on he felt a very sharp pain. After some time it felt a bit moist also but within two or three minutes it became absolutely normal. He knew that something was wrong. He called up Mac.

Mac said that the same thing had also happened to him. Billy believed that there were steroids in the patch. Coach has invented this patch and has put steroids in it and no one can tell. He also thought that this is the reason he has given the patch to them just before the biggest tournament.

Mac said that they would need proof about this so that the police can arrest him. They went to coach’s house with the excuse of needing more of the patches. “Do you have any more patches coach?” asked Billy. “Yes I do have some,” replied coach. “I also wanted to ask – do you know what’s in the patch?” asked Billy again. “Well I only trust two people on this team and that’s you guys and I know you can keep a secret. What’s really in the patch is called “gym juice” or “steroid juice” whatever you like,” explained coach. “Thanks coach,” said Billy, who then took another patch and walked away.

Billy had secretly recorded the conversation on his phone. “What’s next?” asked Mac. “We will give this recording to the police. Let’s go to the police station,” said Billy. They gave the recording to the police and the police assured them that they would arrest him the next day.

Next morning Billy, Mac and Billy’s dad, “Frank” went to Forks with the police. Right when coach saw them he knew he was caught so he just put up his hands and surrendered. But he told Billy and Mac that he would get them and they will pay for this. Billy and Mac just smiled because they knew he would be stuck in prison for a long time.

The team was disqualified from the tournament but they knew it was fair because they had taken steroids. The next day they all went to the doctor. He said they would all need some treatment for a week and then would probably be back to normal.

Billy thought of preparing for next year and he asked his dad to coach the team. Frank agreed and he was very proud of his son.

Billy was happy that they did not cheat because his motto was “play fair or do not play”.